EXPECT DELAYS - PORT WORKERS

Port workers say new security measures announced yesterday will add to
delays and bottlenecks, hindering trade.

In another year, Transport Canada will require them to submit to
background checks. Trade unions have opposed the move since Ottawa
first began floating the idea.

"We're all in favour of making sure that it's a secure place to work,"
said Tom Dufresne, president of port workers' umbrella group Canadian
Maritime Workers Council.

"But we feel the regulations, as they're currently printed, miss the
mark and that they fail to address severe and serious security gaps in
the system."

Dufresne said empty containers coming and going on the waterfront are
often not checked, a long-time beef it has had with Ottawa. He also
said his association has been working with Transport Canada for a
couple of years, trying to figure out which jobs should require
background checks.

"We're kind of taken aback that they've gone ahead ... prior to
finishing the pilot projects."

He's also annoyed that Transport Canada wants a single internal
employee to review any appeals and that if that fails, the employee
must apply to the Federal Court of Canada.

"We just think that's too onerous and we still have concerns on the
privacy aspects of it."

The Halifax Longshoremen's Association was about to start its pilot
project in the next couple of weeks, he said.

Beginning in December 2007, Transport Canada will require security
clearance for marine pilots, security personnel, seafarers and
wharfingers owners at larger ports like Halifax. Similar measures for
smaller ports will come into play in 2008.

Workers will be screened through the Canadian Police Information
Centre and undergo a fingerprint-based criminal records check, a
Canadian Security and Intelligence check, as well as an RCMP
criminal-intelligence database check that searches for known criminal
associations.

Former crane operator Paul Matthew Arthur received 12 years in prison
for helping to smuggle almost $100 million of drugs through the port
of Halifax several years ago.

MP Bill Casey, who announced the funding for Nova Scotia yesterday,
was unaware of the case but said the measures are about prevention.

Gordon Helm, manager of marine security for Halifax Port Authority,
said the average person won't see any changes.

Ottawa is spending $14.5 million on Nova Scotia ports and marine
facilities, with $12.5 million going to Halifax. It's part of a
five-year plan, worth $115 million, to modernize Canada's ports.

Cerescorp Company, which operates the Fairview Cove container
terminal, will receive up to $1.164 million.

Some of the money will go toward training and surveillance equipment.